Merry Christmas from Thailand! I have some major catch up to play here because of course I have been neglecting this thing. I figured now was a great time to send an update out. It's the day after Christmas and I have been thinking about the fam and friends back home, of course missing everyone. I was lucky enough to celebrate Christmas with a few other international teachers here with quite the meal. We had spaghetti, corn on the cob, steak and of course some wine. (Which is hard to find cheap in Thailand) Lucky to not have to celebrate alone!

So now for a travel update. I went with a few friends out to Pak Chong where we had decided to visit Khao Yai National Park. This is a very famous national park and it was something else. We went on an all day jungle trek and saw some amazing (and deadly) things out in the forests.

 Probably closer to a poisonous snake then I should be

 Waterfall from the movie The Beach

 Wild Gibbon 

And a wild elephant to finish the day off

The jungle trek was fantastic. We had a super funny guide who had a little bit too much fun keeping us on edge by dangling scorpions and giant spiders in our faces but otherwise he was pretty hilarious. 

The weekend after that (December 14-16) was The River Kwai Bridge Festival. The bridge has a very dark history but this festival was focused on the peace that followed the war. I went to the sound and light show which is something that is apparently not to be missed. It was true. This was a show not to be missed. There was a dramatic reenactment of an attack on the bridge and an attempt to destroy it. Lots of explosions, people were lit on fire, rockets were shot at the bridge, an old steam engine train came across and rockets were launched at that, the train was set on fire. It was somethin else. I stole some pictures from friends but it was all at night so you may need to use your imagination. 

 The pictures don't really do it justice but there were big explosions and most of that train was on fire

We wanted a picture with some of the actors and we ended up with Hitler. And a Light Saber. I don't really know what happened here. 

Finally I recently returned from a trip up north to Chiang Mai. The school had told us we could tag along on a seminar trip and when it was canceled I think the felt bad and decided to let us go anyways. Pretty cool of them!

It was quite the ordeal to get all the way up north to Chiang Mai. We had to take a bus that took about 13 hours to get there. Well worth the trip though. It was a cool city with a fun night life. I also got to see some friends from orientation that I had not gotten to see since we first left our training week in Bangkok. We spent our first day at Tiger Kingdom. I have already posted some of these pictures but it's like a tiger only zoo where they let you into the cages to pet and take pictures with the tigers. Yeah I know. I willingly got into a cage with 4 full grown tigers. This was daunting at first. The employees said things like "Right this way American meat" as I stepped into the cage, which was... funny? 

It was a bit nerve racking to say the least which is why in some of the photos above I look like I am about to crap myself. We did big cats first and then on to the baby tigers. The baby area was a bit nicer. More relaxing. Large jungle cats tend to keep ya on edge so the small ones were a nice way to end the trip. 

Our next day up north we did a zip line/ jungle trek trip. Pretty cool. I feel like that is all I ever say about a lot of the stuff I do here but it's pretty hard to put these places into words. We saw some pretty fantastic views from the tree tops. 

 Start point

     

Lisa and Brandon- because in Thailand you apparently can't zip line with out a hair net...

 Flying 

 View from the middle of the longest wire

Repelling down to the end. 

All in all Chiang Mai was a blast and I am glad I got a chance to get up north. 12 hours north of Bangkok can be a pretty different and unique Thailand. Now I have a New Years Island escape to look forward to. Spending the New Year holiday with about 12 other teachers in some huts we rented on a beach on a western island called Kho Chang. Can't believe this is what happens on my weekends. The weekdays can be pretty tough sometimes. Large classes with hyped up kids and little help and resources can take it out of ya. The kids crack me up every day. I am lovin my time here so far. Until next time!   

In just a few days I will be at my TWO MONTH mark of living in Thailand! So I figured it was time for another post. I have only gotten two others on here so far and believe it or not I have seen some cool stuff since the last update.

Where to start.

Can't believe how comfortable I feel here. When I first arrived, everything was VERY different of course and there are so many things that I don't even give a second thought to anymore. Things that would have made me do a double take and make my jaw drop. Here are a few examples...

- Family of 4 riding to school and work together on a moped. The thai minivan.

- Showers all tend to have a toilet in the corner. Also they don't flush.  

- Drivers typically drive 40 over the speed limit while texting/watching tv/talking on the phone or (and we have seen this believe it or not) all of the above.

- Thai people are EXTREMELY kind people. It is common for other teachers to give me random gifts of fruit and cakes for no reason other then it is just in their blood to be nice to other human beings. 

- Thai children NEVER stop smiling. They are always happy, they love shake hands and high five and it makes showing up to work pretty darn awesome. After all, who doesn't love slappin' some five? 

- Last minute is the only minute here. Seems like everyday I get some kind of news that I wish I knew earlier (Three day weekend next weekend apparently) but this is A-OK. Usually the news is just an awesome last minute surprise. Like days off!

I am sure there are plenty more examples but this is all I can think of at the moment. 

But more about what has been going on here

Last week Thailand celebrated Loi Krathong. This is a holiday where Thai people give thanks to water for everything that it does in their lives. It was a pretty cool holiday to be around for, especially in school. On Wednesday afternoon the first grade class and myself got into the holiday spirit by making out own Krathong. These are floating lanterns that are lit and floated into a body of water. We released ours in The River Kwai. 

Grade One with their Krathongs

 Example

That night I went down to The River Kwai to float my lantern away. Another especially cool part of the holiday is the endless lanterns that are lit on fire and released to float away into the sky. It was a never ending deal. So of course I bought a lantern.

Step 1- Light it

Step 2- Let the lantern burn and fill with hot air

 Step 3- Let 'er fly

These were just two of the activities going on. There was a whole street fair taking place while lanterns flew with delicious food, rides, games and plenty of fireworks.

Those are lanterns up in the sky, not stars. Best picture I could manage!

It was like the fourth of July, only the fireworks we being set off for about 5 hours strait 

All in all it was a really cool holiday to experience. The Thai people at my school were all very excited to show me how to make a Krathong and they even showed us around the festival, explaining things that caught our eye. I think it was fun for them too though. I know I would have a good time introducing someone to Halloween for the first time. Glad I got to experience this foreign holiday with a few experts to explain things. 

 We all work very hard during the week at school so when the weekends come we take FULL advantage of this. Everyone typically rushes to their prospective bus stations on Friday after school so we can all meet up in a near by town to do some exploring. This most recent weekend was a trip to Ayutthaya or Ayoodia or Ayuteeya or however you want to spell it. I saw it spelled in all of those versions plus many more. This city is known for it's ancient ruins. Very cool stuff. So me and my friends Conor and Kayce decided to skip a shopping trip the rest of the group was going on and rent bikes to tour the town on. Here is what we spent the day lookin at

No one can explain how this happened. The tree just grew around the statue head.  

So that is about all for now. Having a blast. Love my job. Love that I love my job. Traveling every weekend for the next month I believe so stay tuned for another update. Holla at me on Christmas because I sadly enough have to work and I have not been able to keep up with nearly enough you all at home.